Why does everybody hate leeds united

Many readers, however, sensed a deeper strain of what is usually called emotional truth beneath the portrayal of an institution corrupted by Revie's paranoia. Football clubs are like garden spades. When the blade wears out, you replace it. Then the handle breaks and you replace that, too. But, somehow, it is still the same spade. Which is perhaps why the men currently in charge of Leeds United seem so familiar.

When it comes to paranoia, Bates could have given Revie lessons. And what was Wise, in his playing days, if not the short-passing, shirt-tugging reincarnation of Bremner? The nationwide expressions of mourning for Alan Ball varied from a pair of his white boots being placed in the centre circle at Goodison Park to a fond chant of "Alan Ball's blue-and-white army" at Fratton Park. At two of the country's new stadiums, the Emirates and the rebuilt Wembley before an England under international , a minute's solid applause seemed to signal the enlightened adoption of a southern European habit.

There are times, of course, when silence is still more appropriate than the sounds of thousands of pairs of hands being put together, but this was not one of them. Accessibility Links Skip to content. Menu Close. Log in Subscribe. Rod Liddle. Sunday July 19 , We all hate Leeds scum, and we like it that way.

But in the other part of the mind lurks a nagging paranoia and insecurity. Leeds United has gone hand in hand with chaos, calamity and downright bad luck throughout its entire existence. Can it really be a coincidence? What if everybody — fans, media, authorities — really do hate Leeds scum? When he came back to the club he told them all the stories about being kicked to pieces in Italy.

I watched a full match of him playing for Juventus in the European Cup and some of the tackling is ridiculous. All these teams had read about Leeds being the dirtiest team in the country and were setting up ready to fight. Popular… weren't we? Revie never needed an excuse to believe there were outside influences working against his team.

While he was a visionary manager in his attention to detail and famous dossiers on opposition players, he was also incredibly superstitious. Before every home game he took the exact same route to the stadium, refusing to return home if he had forgotten anything.